A Fistful of Datas (episode)
After a computer malfunction, Worf, Alexander Rozhenko, and Deanna Troi are trapped in an Old West holodeck program where all the characters look like and have the same abilities as Data. Summary The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise-D]] has entered orbit around Deinonychus VII to meet the supply ship [[USS Biko|USS Biko]], but their rendezvous was delayed by forty-eight hours. This delay was used by many crew members to pursue personal projects, or just to enjoy some rest and recuperation. The Captain of the Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard, was one of them and was recording a piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart while he played the flute, the one that was given to him during a previous adventure, in his quarters. Captain's Quarters Captain Picard, busy recording, stopped when he finds the accompanying instruments incorrect, and after he had changed the clarinet into an oboe he continued his performance, but was interrupted by the Lieutenant Commanders Data and La Forge. After entering his quarters they asked him for permission to conduct an experiment, for which they would have to take the engineering computer off-line for a few hours. Their idea was to connect Data to the ship's computer systems, so he might act as an emergency backup system in case of a ship-wide systems failure. After Geordi and Data explained the theories behind their idea, Picard grants them permission and asks to see the results when they were done. Although Geordi wants to tell him more about the experiment, the Captain really wants to continue his recording and tells them to proceed. After Geordi and Data had left his quarters Picard continues recording, but again is interrupted, this time by Doctor Beverly Crusher. She needs to talk to him about '' 'Something for Breakfast' , a play she is directing, because she wants Picard to perform one of the parts. Picard tells her that he does not have the time to learn the part, and is slightly disappointed when Beverly tells him he does not play one of the leading roles but only the butler. He tells her he will think about it, and after she whispered in his ear he would be wonderful, she tells him that rehearsal will start at one-thirty and left his quarters. After a short sigh Picard orders the computer to resume recording, but before he can finish the first note he is interrupted again, this time by Worf. A slightly irritated Picard welcomes Worf, and after excusing his interruption, Worf asks him that he wants to use the delay to stage ship wide security drills and hands the Captain a PADD with the proposed schedule. When Picard tells him that new personnel will be joining them at Starbase 118 in a few weeks, and suggests that the drills might be better done then, Worf concurs, but suggests that in that case he could use the time to do maintenance checks on the forward phaser array. Captain Picard asks him if there is a reason why he wants to do all those tasks. When Worf tells him that there is no particular reason, he is told by Picard to enjoy himself during this free time and hands back the PADD. Worf, slightly baffled, thanks him and leaves Picard's quarters. When Worf is gone, Picard sits down and orders the computer to continue recording and to start the Mozart playback. This time he can play his flute without any interruption. In Worf's quarters, his son, Alexander is lying on the floor while he plays with his computer. He jumps up when he hears his father entering the room and when he asks what the Captain said, Worf let himself fall into a chair and after a short silence reluctantly admitted that he was relieved from his duties for the duration of the delay. When Alexander asks him if this means that he could go with him, Worf told him he could. Alexander cheerfully announces, "Saddle up, Father!", and places a Stetson hat onto Worf's head. There seems to be no way to escape his son's idea of recreation. Deadwood , South Dakota]] Worf and Alexander are in the Deadwood holodeck program, looking down at the town of Deadwood. This program is situated on 19th century Earth in an era known as the 'Ancient West', or better known as 'The Wild West'. They are dressed up like law enforcement officers, Worf being the sheriff and Alexander his deputy. While Worf and Alexander are walking through main street, Geordi La Forge and Data were in engineering, preparing for their experiment. After Geordi connects an optic cable on the opened right side of Data's head to access Data's auxiliary input, he admits that he still is not used to seeing Data like this, with parts of his head opened showing his circuitry. After Geordi completes the connection, Data establishes the link-up with the ''Enterprise computer and they start their experiment. Worf and Alexander, walking down the main street, are greeted by a lady of the night who whistles at them. When Alexander tells him that Mr. Barclay helped him write the program, Worf mumbles that he must have a talk with him. Their conversation is interrupted by a gunshot and both run towards the source of the sound. In the saloon Eli Hollander is shooting at his wanted poster; he is angry with the man who drew his picture, since he feels that he looks uglier in the picture than he really is. His Mexican partner is laughing out loud, amused by Eli's reaction. After they empty their whiskey glasses they watch how Worf and Alexander enter the saloon. Alexander explains to Worf that Eli Hollander is the bad guy, the meanest and toughest gunslinger in the west, and Worf's job is to apprehend him if he can. Worf adjusts his gun-belt and walks over to Eli's table, looks shortly at Eli's partner and tells Eli he is under arrest. When Eli stands up from his chair he is hit by Worf, before he can say anything, and hits the floor. Alexander freezes the holodeck program and tells his father that this was too easy, it needs to be harder to beat the bad guys otherwise the program would not be any fun to play. Alexander orders the holodeck computer to change the difficulty level to four and resets the program to where he and his father entered the saloon. When they enter the saloon again the piano player stops and other customers get out of the way; they do not want to be hit if shooting starts. Worf walks up to Eli Hollander and tells him he is under arrest. Eli, with his hand on his gun, tells him that's not a good idea and walks up to the bar and pours himself a whiskey and challenges Worf, even insults him by telling him he looks likes an armadillo. When one of Eli's accomplices takes a chair with the intent to hit Worf in the back, he is warned by Alexander, but too late. The chair hits Worf but breaks up and with a swift turn Worf hits the assailant, knocking him to the floor. When Eli's partner wants to attack Worf, Worf hits him and he and falls backwards on the table, crushing it before he hits the floor. Worf looks around for more and enthusiastically tells his son he is beginning to like this program, but Eli is pointing his gun at him and tells his men to saddle up and demands Worf's money and jewelry. Eli walks up to Worf and cocks his gun, but before he can do anything someone shoots off his hat. It's a stranger who just entered the saloon – Counselor Deanna Troi, who was asked by Alexander to participate because she loves western stories. In Main Engineering, Data is still connected to the computer while Geordi La Forge is working at a console. Sheriff's Office Eli Hollander is in the Sheriff's jail playing cards and tells Worf and Alexander that he will not be in there for long. When his pa hears about this he will get him out. Alexander tells him that his pa is no match for Sheriff Worf but the stranger tells them otherwise. Worf asks Deanna Troi if she could be more supportive, on which she tells him to call her 'Durango' – she was just passing through and thought she'd lend a hand when she saw them in trouble. With her feet on his desk she lights a cigarillo and tells Worf that she was not a deputy, when Worf suggested that she might help. When Worf asks her if she would consider becoming a temporary deputy, she tells him it would cost him five hundred dollars. Worf then turns to his son and tells him that they would need currency, Alexander tells him he will go to the bank to make a withdrawl and leaves the Sheriff's office. Worf asks Deanna how she knows so much about this period of Earth's history, and she tells him her father always read her stories about the ancient west. She always wanted to play the part of the mysterious stranger. Their conversation is interrupted by Annie Meyers, the owner of the "Gold Strike Saloon". After she enters the Sheriff's office, she affectionately kisses Sheriff Worf and tells him he was so brave when he faced that evil man Eli Hollander. She tells him she will make him a special dinner, complete with a candle setting of real beeswax. When Worf told her he cannot attend her dinner because he had a prisoner, 'Durango' told him not to worry, she would keep an eye on the prisoner while they were dining. Worf rejected Durango's offer and got slapped in the face by Annie, who suspected there was another woman, someone from Miss Langford's House of Pleasure, although he denied it. An angry miss Annie left the Sheriff's office, slamming the door shut. When Eli sarcastically remarked that Worf had a way with women, 'Durango' can barely suppress a laugh by masking it as a cough. Meanwhile, in the Captain's quarters, Jean-Luc Picard was listening to the musical performance he recorded earlier. Suddenly the music changed, from his flute recording to a full orchestra playing, although the computer identified the performance as his: Picard Mozart Trio Program One. At the same time Beverly Crusher was rehearsing 'Something for Breakfast' together with Will Riker and some other colleagues. She found that her play was missing when Will recited a poem, the one Data wrote in honor of his cat Spot entitled Ode to Spot, instead of the text of the play. After she checked the PADD, the script of the play was still gone. Beverly takes the PADD to Main Engineering were Geordi checked its performance and finds nothing wrong with it. It seemed that when Beverly tried to retrieve her script the computer accessed Data's poem instead. Data suggested that their experiment could be the source of the problems and they decide to run a level two diagnostic on the computer while Data performs a self-diagnostic. In Deadwood, Deputy Alexander was walking on the boardwalk back from the Bank where he got the money to pay Durango. After a quick check on the contents of the money bag he was pulled from the street, gagged, and brought to a mine by one of Eli's accomplices. Here Alexander complains that he was not supposed to be kidnapped at this time, but when he orders the holodeck computer to freeze the program nothing happens; even after a second command the computer did not respond. When the Mexican asked Frank Hollander, Eli's father, if he wanted the Deputy dead, Frank answered that he was more valuable alive. When Frank Hollander stepped out of the dark back-end of the mine, Alexander noticed that Frank Hollander looked exactly like Data, but did not behave like Data at all. Gold Strike Saloon On the Enterprise Data was in his quarters trying to do some work but his cat Spot kept on interrupting him by jumping onto his desk and walking over his computer console. After the second time, he picked up the cat and put her on the floor; while he is doing this he told the cat in a Texas accent "vamoose, you little varmint". Data does not notice his accent and continues working. The interface experiment seems to be influencing Data also in addition to the other computer malfunctions. Sheriff Worf enters the "Gold Strike Saloon" and looks around for his deputy. When he does not see him he asks Miss Annie, who is behind the bar and trying to ignore him, still angry about his dinner rejection. After telling him that she has not seen his deputy she asks him what he likes to drink. Annie laughs when Worf asks for Klingon Firewine and she tells him they don't serve European drinks, like they do in Kansas City. Annie tells him she could serve him a sherry like they do at Miss Langford's. While Miss Annie gets him a drink, Sheriff Worf hears footsteps on the boardwalk outside the saloon, and when he looks at the entrance, the saloon doors squeak and he watches a stranger walk in with two accomplices. The stranger looks exactly like Lieutenant Commander Data. At first Worf assumes that either Alexander or Troi had invited Data to participate in the program. This new character tells Worf that his name is Frank Hollander. When Worf checks him out, Frank Hollander asks him what he is looking at and Worf tells him he is not looking at him. When Worf asks him what he wants, Frank tells him he want his son back. After sipping his drink, Worf turns to Frank Hollander and tells him that his son will have to stand trial for murder. Frank Hollander tells him that they have to work something out, when Worf refuses, he asks him if he has seen his deputy. When Worf asks him where his deputy is, Frank Hollander does not answer and Worf tells him he does not negotiate with criminals and that his son will stand trial. After emptying his glass, Sheriff Worf walks past Frank Hollander to leave the saloon but Frank grabs him by the shoulder, hard enough to be quite painful for Worf. Worf, in the belief that Frank Hollander is Data, asks him what he is doing and realizes that this is not Data at all and tries to freeze the holodeck program, but to no avail. When Worf backs out of the saloon, Frank Hollander tells him not to leave and his accomplices stand ready to draw their weapons. After a short silence, Worf turned and dives through the saloon doors while bullets from Frank's accomplices follow him on his way out. When Worf enters the Sheriff's Office, he bolts the door and Deanna Troi, who was practicing her fast draw, asks him what is wrong; he tells her that Alexander is missing and that the holodeck safeguards are not functioning. When Deanna notices that Worf has been shot in his arm, she tries to freeze the holodeck program, when this fails she tries to contact security and Captain Picard, but all attempts to contact someone outside the holodeck fail. Worf tells her that Eli's father looks like Data but is in fact not Data and that he has kidnapped Alexander. Eli Hollander sneers at the Sheriff from his cell, that his father might had been too rough with him, and when they look at him, Worf and Deanna see that he looks like Data. Deanna wonders why the computer creates characters looking like Data and stops Worf when he tries to force Eli to tell him were his son is. When Worf walks back from the cell, she tells him that when they finish the story, the program would automatically terminate like it was designed to, despite the non-functioning safeguards. Worf agreed with her and decided to talk to the people of Deadwood and see if someone might had seen Alexander's abduction. Subroutine C47 In the Enterprise observation lounge Captain Picard, First Officer William Riker, Geordi La Forge and Data were deliberating on how to solve the computer problems their interface experiment has created. Computer core-subroutine C47 seemed to be replaced by parts of Data's own programming and because C47 controls library computer access and the recreational programs, among other things, this was the reason that Picard heard the wrong musical part and Doctor Crusher lost her script. Data and Geordi were busy isolating the corrupted computer circuit pathways, but it would take several hours. During their conference they noticed that Data used a contraction, although Data himself could not remember using it; he even spoke with a Texan accent. Picard suggested to take Data to Main Engineering and try to examine Data's behavior; when they left the observation lounge, Data mistook the plant near the door for a cuspidor. Picard and Riker looked at each other when they saw his behavior, not knowing what to think. In the Sheriff's Office Deanna watched how Eli shuffled his cards in exactly the same way Data does and with the same speed. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door – it was Sheriff Worf. He told her that he found witnesses who saw the abduction of Alexander and was told by Deanna about Eli's abilities and she told him his father, Frank Hollander, would also possess Data's abilities. Their conversation was interrupted by someone knocking on the door, it was Frank Hollander, who wanted to see his son. Sheriff Worf demanded his gun, whereupon Frank sneered to take a good look at his gun, he would see it again real soon. When Frank asked Eli how they were treating him, he complained that he had not eaten since he was imprisoned. Frank told him that the Sheriff would pay for this and asked him who the stranger was. Eli did not know, but told his father she was mighty good with a Winchester. Frank walked up to the Sheriff and told him he would give him one more chance to release his son. After a short silence Worf told him he would agree. He would release Eli in exchange for his deputy. Frank Hollander tells him to meet him in two hours in front of the delivery stables and he did not want to see the stranger there and asked for his gun back. After a last look at his son he left the Sheriff's Office. Deanna tells Worf that in every story she had read about the ancient west, the bad guy always broke their word, and explained to him that bad guys were not concerned about honor when Worf told her they had made a honorable agreement. This bad guy has the speed and accuracy of an android and would try to kill him. When Riker visited Geordi and Data in Main Engineering they had discovered that part of Data's memory structure was replaced by the computer recreational database. More specific, parts of the 19th century American west. Geordi confirmed that this was a result of their interface experiment and tells Commander Riker that a progressive memory purge to restore Data's programming was running and would take a couple of hours to finish. When Riker asked about the computer recreational database, Geordi tells him that a memory purge was also in progress and that it would take one to two hours to complete. When Riker left he was told by Data not to worry, they would fix the problem in time for supper. Showdown In the Sheriff's Office, Worf and Deanna were planning how they were going to deal with Frank Hollander when they were interrupted by several knocks on the door. It was Miss Annie, who brought Worf a toolbox with old man Newsome's telegraph machine. While Worf looked through the toolbox, Deanna nodded to Miss Annie, hinting Worf to thank her so she would leave the office. At 5:14 PM Worf finished making a simple force field generator with some telegraph parts and his combadge as a power source. When Deanna asked how long the field would last he told her not more than fifteen seconds because the field was very unstable. A few moments later Sheriff Worf and Eli Hollander walked out of the Sheriff's Office towards the front of the saloon. When they arrived Eli was stopped by Worf and they watched how Frank Hollander and Deputy Alexander walked into the middle of the street and stopped in front of the livery stable. After lighting his cigar, Frank Hollander pushed Alexander forward, and he started walking towards his father, Sheriff Worf, who nodded Eli to start walking. Unknown to Worf, Frank's accomplices were hiding beside the street, ready to use their weapons when necessary, by now they all looked like Data. When Eli passed Alexander, he looked at him disdainfully, and when he had almost reached his father Frank, he yelled at him to get down and drew his gun. Worf warned Alexander and while he ran to the saloon, Worf turned on his makeshift force field, just in time. Frank emptied his gun but the bullets were stopped by the force field. When it stopped working, one of Frank's accomplices drew his weapon and tried to shoot Worf but he was stopped by Deanna, who was hiding under a cover on a nearby wagon. At that time Frank's Mexican accomplice, who was hiding on a roof, threw a gun towards Frank Hollander. When he caught it, Worf drew his weapon and shot the weapon right out of Frank Hollander's hand. Hollander knew he was beaten and challenged Worf to shoot him. Worf cocked his weapon and looked towards Alexander, who was lying under the saloon doors, watching everything. After a short silence, Worf told Frank Hollander never to show his face again in Deadwood. Frank called his accomplices and walked out of the street while he threw a short look at Sheriff Worf. Deanna and Worf ran in the saloon were Alexander embraced his father and told him he was fine when Worf asked if he was alright. Worf ordered the holodeck computer to end the program but nothing happened. Deanna did not understand – the story should have ended by now. When Worf told the computer again to end the program, Miss Annie, who now also looked like Data, walked down the stairs and told Worf he was as handy with a gun as with a woman's heart. An agitated Worf repeated his command to shutdown the program while Miss Annie walked towards him. The computer shut down the program when Annie Meyers placed her head on Worf's shoulder, and Worf sighed with relief when he saw the holodeck grid appearing. After Data and Geordi La Forge managed to restore the ship's computer, Worf looked to his son, who was almost asleep in his quarters. When Alexander asked his father if he would go back to the ancient west despite what had happened, Worf told him if the town of Deadwood would face danger again they would need a Sheriff and a Deputy. When Worf walked back to the living quarters he noticed the Stetson lying on a chair and he could not resist putting it on his head and trying out his fast draw in the mirror. This was perhaps the only moment in any of the episodes that Worf could be seen with a clear grin on his face. The Enterprise-D then broke orbit and "rode" off into a sunset, keeping traditions with a Western. Memorable Quotes "If ever I find the varmint that drew this, he'll be sorry ever put pen to paper! I'm ten times uglier than that, ain't I?" :- Eli Hollander, shooting at a wanted poster of himself with a somewhat inaccurate picture "I'm beginning to see the appeal of this program." :- Worf to Alexander, after violently knocking down two villains in the saloon on the holodeck, obviously enjoying the fight. "Counsellor, I would appreciate some support in this matter!" "Durango! I'm called Durango!" "Yes, err... Counsellor Durango, ..." :- Worf and Deanna Troi, playing the Mysterious Stranger on the holodeck "You sure got a way with women, sheriff." :- Eli Hollander, to Sheriff Worf, after Worf got slapped by Annie. "Vamoose, you little varmint!" :- Data, to Spot, who is disrupting Data's ability to work "You sit tight, boy. I'll have you home in time for supper." :- Frank Hollander, with the appearance of Data to Eli Hollander, who also looks like Data, on the holodeck "You just sit tight. We'll have this all fixed up in time for supper." :- Data, to Cmdr. Riker about the progress in fixing the problem with subroutine C47, in the real world Background Information *There is an interview with Patrick Stewart about the making of this episode in the "Bold New Directions" bonus feature located on the TNG:Season 6 DVD 7. In the interview Stewart mentions that for this episode he watched the movie Shane for inspiration regarding westerns. *In the "Special Crew Profile of Lt. Commander Data" on the same set of discs Brent Spiner mentions that Data was "homely" as the female bartender he played in this episode. *This episode was the first Star Trek episode that Robert Hewitt Wolfe wrote. He later becomes a prominent writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. * The original title was "The Good, the Bad and the Klingon." * The prostitute who greets Worf and Alexander when they first enter Deadwood was in fact played by Marina Sirtis, which probably contributed to Worf's displeasure with Barclay, as he had a bad habit of placing simulations of real people (particularly Deanna Troi) in his holodeck programs. * The backing of Alexander's game that he plays in the beginning of the episode is made from 5.25" floppy drive face plates. Links and References Guest Stars *Brian Bonsall as Alexander Rozhenko *John Pyper-Ferguson as Eli Hollander *Joy Garrett as Annie Meyers *Jorge Cervera, Jr. as Bandito References 47; Ancient West; Anton Dvorak; Armadillo; Beeswax candles; Bozeman; Clarinet; Combadge; Deadwood; Deinonychus VII; Deputy; Durango; duty roster; Eli Hollander; Feline supplement 127; Firewine; Gold Strike Saloon; Gooseberry cobbler; Holo-programs; Holodeck safety protocol; Ian Andrew Troi; Miss Langford's House of Pleasure; Money; Mozart; neural net; Oberth class; Oboe; Ode to Spot; Old Man Newsome; PADD; phaser array; Picard Mozart trio; poker; positronic subprocessor; Progressive memory purge; Rapid City; Reginald Barclay; Ressikan flute; Shane (movie); Sheriff; Sherry; Shotgun; Something for Breakfast; South Dakota; Spot; Starbase 118; The Slavonic Dances; USS Biko; Winchester Fistful of Datas, A de:Eine Handvoll Datas nl:A Fistful of Datas